Minutes of December meeting - Motion by Michael to approve, Second by Judy. Approved

Update from last meeting:

- A. Annual Meeting at Old Davie School. Very positive. We had more exposure to the public. Yuri will bring us new shirts which we will all wear for greater recognition. We would like to participate again next year. How could we have gotten a greater audience for the speaker, Harvey Oyer?

- B. Windmill Status – Marcie has been talking to Water Management District

- C.Meeting with Old Davie School – January 26, 2012 is their annual assembly. Marcie and Judy will attend.

- D.Orange Blossom Festival – Sat. and Sun. Feb 25 and 26. Our booth will be with the Farm Bureau. We will include Heather Green’s photography again as well as jewelry to raise some money. We will also take some local nature photos this month and bring to the February meeting so we can make note cards for sale.

- E.Water Matters Day – March 10, 2012 at Tree Tops Park. We will participate.

Updates:

- A. Flaming Gardens – no news

- B. Bartlett House – Marcie made contact; no word back as of yet.

Next meeting to be on February 6, 2012 at 7:00PM at the Flashback Diner in Davie.

- We should be registered by December for both Orange Blossom Festival and Water Matters Day.

- We will be under the same tent as Farm Bureau for the OB Festival.

- Doris will volunteer to do Water Matters Day registration.

- Where are the display boards? We think Todd has them. Fred has the ones with blue carpeting as Velcro. John has the pictures.

Flamingo Gardens – our highest priority:

- Marcie will talk to Stan about their plans and to consider a conservation easement for the property. We need a clear idea of what we are proposing based on knowledge of the Gardens’ size, characteristics, etc. Hence, we need an appraisal, which is approximately $6000, quite costly for us.

McKee Botanical Gardens in Vero Beach:

- We are planning a field trip there on May 19th or 20th with the purpose of learning how the land trust acquired the property, how they manage it, etc.

Next meeting will be the field trip to McKee Gardens on May19th or 20th. We will contact each other by phone and email to coordinate the trip.

Mckee Botanical Gardens – We will drive up to Vero Beach on Saturday July 7th to talk to Susan who negotiated the original negotiation to acquire McKee a land trust.

Flamingo Gardens - Bob Love explained what an appraisal for a conservation easement would entail, how to value the land, which lands will be included, and what the development rights are, among other things. We will need their (Flamingo Gardens’) survey for a description of what the easement is going to entail. how many acres are involved, to confirm what environmentally, economically, or archaeologically sensitive areas are there. Bob can put together a proposal narrow the scope to keep our cost low. Appraisal would take approximately 45 days. The conservation easement appraisal will determine the value of the land we would like to have in the conservation easement. We propose to go to the next Flamingo Gardens board meeting to talk to the members and ask what their needs are. Motion by Fred to move forward with a title search. Second by Mike. Marci will call Stan Wood for further discussion and inquire about next board meeting.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday August 6, 2012 7:00 PM at the Flashback Diner in Davie

We received a $35.00 donation from a brother of a new Davie resident. We do not know the names yet and cannot yet write a thank you letter of acknowledgment.

McKee Botanical Gardens – Marci, Linda, Judy, and Ruth drove up on Saturday July 7 to discuss with Susan Schuyler Smith how and why they acquired the property. They purchased it outright, and she urges us to do the same with Flamingo Gardens in order to have better control of the property.

Windmill Project – There are conflicting opinions about a water permit. If it’s used for emergency purpose, we don’t need a permit, but if that is on commercial property, then a permit is required.

Flamingo Gardens - Discussion of the pros and cons of purchasing outright vs. conservation easement of the property. Linda expressed apprehension about the responsibility of a purchase. Raising the money would take us a long time, and it would be an enormous financial obligation. We discussed the financial obligations that Flamingo Gardens has, its assets, investments, expenses, income, taxes they pay, who their officers are and their aging-out procedure, can they sell, would they sell, its history, what lawsuits they are involved in, etc. The original articles of incorporation and by-laws would answer some important questions, such as what is the purpose of their foundation as well as all the issues we are concerned about. That information is not available on line; it would need to be obtained from Tallahassee.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday September 10, then Monday October 8 (7:00 PM at the Flashback Diner in Davie.) We would like to have the Annual Meeting on Sunday November 4 at the Davie Women’s Club.